Last week was Jackson’s first week at a new school and his first time in real preschool. He was loving the English Speaking Playgroup but we were seeing a need for Jackson to be in a setting with some more structure (i.e. learning) and work on more specific areas like fine motor, etc that he will need when he goes to kindergarten. And after looking at some programs I love that Feusi offers a classroom with a span of ages so that Jackson has some older kids modeling for him.  He is in the English class and then has lunch with the German speaking children as well. I have absolutely no confidence that he will learn German more than a few words but that isn’t our goal. Many Foreign Service parents pride themselves in how many languages their children speak. Not me. We roll with it and I refuse to put them under stress for their resume to be beefed up. Jackson learned Spanish when he needed to and I am positive when there is a need he will learn whatever languages come along. Enough said about that.

Anyhow, back to the first day. He did beautifully. He settled right in with maybe a shedding of 2, that’s one two, tears. And by the time I picked him up he was wanting to take the time to personally say goodbye to everyone he had met. That’s my boy. Yesterday Seth took him for the first time and he enjoyed every minute of their grown up commute together. His favorite part of the morning from what I can tell is that after lunch they all brush their teeth. He got to get a new toothbrush to keep at school so he is feeling super cool being a dual toothbrush boy.

And now I officially have less than a year to begin preparing myself for his first day of kindergarten. I won’t lie and tell you that I can’t imagine a day at home without my kids. I love my time with my kids and I love the times when my kids are being taken care of by loving, capable adults other than myself.  But I am positive that I will cry when I say goodbye as kindergarten starts. Owen and I will certainly go through withdrawals at home without him and I know I will eagerly wait for the school day to end so I can pester him with questions. It’s just not right how quickly they grow.

Here is our preschooler on the first day at Feusi…in an outfit he insisted on picking by the way, red trim socks and all.  You win some, you lose some.  If he was excited enough to pick his clothes I figured he really didn’t need a polo and khaki shorts!!

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Well, I must say that yesterday was one of my biggest mommy mess ups!

A few months ago I picked Jackson up from school and he had a piece of masking tape on his shirt with his teachers contact info and address. I was puzzled and asked the teacher what it was for. She said she had been talking to Jackson about the animals near her house and she would love to have him out to see them. He had asked for her address and phone number so that I could call her and make a plan. Oh my. We have been so busy this summer that it took me a while to get it together but yesterday we went for a visit. Her house is in Bolligen, a small town just on the edge of Bern. She lives in the top floor of a big mansion that I believe has been in a Swiss family for a couple hundred yrs. The cement steps had grooves in them to tell you how old it was.

The boys were ecstatic. Owen started mooing as we pulled in next to the cows. Before going out to see the animals we went and had a drink and snack on the terrace. As we walked onto the terrace Jackson’s teacher said, “the only problem is that the railings are low”. Um, yep, they were low alright. If Jackson had tripped while walked toward the edge of the terrace he would have launched right over the edge. It was below his waist. Which of course means that Owen could easily climb over! So as the 2 teachers sat and enjoyed visiting with Jackson I feverishly followed Owen to be sure he was safe.

After our tea time we went outside and picked prune plums. I am no expert on prunes or plums but I thought prunes were just dried plums. Apparently, there are plums from Italy that are known as prune plums. Anyhow, Jackson’s teacher grabbed him a bag and helped him pick a big bag full. Owen (my picky eater mind you) thought they looked good and started popping them in his mouth. No big deal except for the big pit. So I chased Owen around during our plum picking to ensure that I could help him pop out the pit. He was in heaven running through the tall wet grass, picking up freshly picked plums! They were like candy to him. As we finished the plum picking I remember sighing a sigh of relief thinking “whew, done with the terrace and the plum pit popping, now we can just enjoy looking at the animals and head home”.

I pulled out the camera and let Owen toddle down the dirt path ahead of us toward the cows. As I watched him walk with excitement ahead of me I made note of the fence and saw that he could not get too close to the cows or pony. I snapped a couple of pictures and headed his way. When I was about 10 steps from him he let out a huge scream and was thrown back from the fence. You guessed it, my sweet Owen got shocked by the cow fence. He had grabbed on with both hands and it threw him back and he plopped down crying and holding his hands out. I felt HORRIBLE!!! Here I thought I had things under control. Luckily he was not burned and he was fine beyond the initial shock.   We can now check “letting your child get shocked by a cow fence” off the list of mishaps!!

I have to add this for all of you parents with kids starting school…The irony of Jackson’s teacher inviting him over is that when he began last year she really had a tough time with him. For about a month or more I would go to pick him up and she would have some complaint. She didn’t quite know what to do with his energy and I think he really challenged her with his millions of questions. I literally started picking him up quickly and rushing out so she wouldn’t tell me about the morning. He was loving school and I reassured her that we had just made a move and left all of his friends and that I knew he needed time to transition. Pretty soon I noticed that she greeted Jackson cheerfully in the mornings and had made a special bond with him. He had become a helper in the class which was using some of that extra energy and she now “got him”. It was a tough transition and it was so hard as a mom to know that I had to relinquish my control and let him learn to be a part of a class. It made our adjustment to Bern quite hard.  But, a yr later Jackson had tea with his teachers that he once struggled with and they expressed to me how much joy Jackson had brought to the class and how much they would miss him this year. My prayer for Jackson is that God would provide teachers that “get him” along the way and that he will be able to use his strengths to continue to impact the lives of others.  He has an extra dose of energy that I myself struggle to channel but I hope that we have the resources along the way to help him grow and be a successful learner!

We celebrated Jackson’s 4th birthday on Saturday!  For months he has been asking for a camping party. I browsed a few blogs to find some ideas and here is what we ended up with!

there were big storm clouds all day so Seth put the tent up in the living room

I made fish using cardboard and duct tape. We put magnets in at their mouths. Unfortunately we used a metal bucket which more often caught the “hook” than the fish

One of Jackson’s friends father makes amazing cakes. He brought a chocolate truffle cake. I had things ready to toss on the top for decorating. We found marzipan rocks at a shop here that looked like real rocks!

Nama read Curious George Goes Camping in the tent!

overseeing gift opening

And due to the weather and being nervous about lighting a fire with a bazillion kids we continued the fun and on Sun night we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores!

At bedtime after the party Jackson was already brainstorming next yrs party. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we will be living out of suitcases, moving who knows where and that his guest list would be none of the kids from this party. Each yr is quite different for him. Proud of the little guy he is growing into!!

On the 21st Owen turned 18 months old…..a whole YEAR and a HALF!!! And today, Jackson is only one month from turning 4!!!  They both have check-ups next week at the pediatrician so I will have real stats next week but while I have a minute I thought I would reflect a little on what our boys are up to these days. Warning: this really will bore 99% of you, read at your own risk!

At 18 months old, Owen is on the run. He is such a ham, still! His sense of humor continues to blossom and the parroting he is doing is only making it funnier.He has a contagious laugh and will work himself into a laughing fit if it means he can get Jackson laughing too.

He only started walking about 4 months ago but he now speed races around the house with Jackson, dodging the corners of the dining room table and plowing through anything in his way. He has an aggressive little streak, likely out of the need to survive having a big brother, The nice part though is that most times before he launches into a pinch or punch he yells “Owch” so you know something is about to hurt.

Owen has had a language burst over the past few weeks. His current words are “momma”, “daddy/dadda”, “jack”/”jackson”, “milk”, “bre”/bread, “cookie”, “dri”, “ink”/drink, “ju”/juice, “more”, “all done”, “all gone”, “nana”/banana, “pupu”/dog, puppy, “woof”, “duck”, quack”, “cockadooo”/rooster, “baaa”/sheep, “cow”, “mooo”, “cat”, “bu”/bug, “wash”, “bye, bye”, “thank you”, “chicken”, “hot”, “flower”, “apa”/airplane,…and my tired brain is sputtering out. “Jenny” is his latest addition. My cousin is here for the month and he has been smitten with her since she arrived!  Lots of these words he has done off and on but over the past month he is trying new words and getting much clearer. I know leave it to the Speech therapist to worry, but folks, the boy is a pacifier boy and his tongue and words are evidence. I have not been willing for him to give it up at bedtime so I have had to accept the fact that he is just naturally going to have some less articulate time. Pacifier + good sleep= happy baby and mommy, which consequently leads to a healthier communication environment, right?!   Despite the pacifier he is surprising us daily with new words!

And my this boy can eat! We went through a long phase where he threw almost all of his food and refused things we thought he liked. But, whew, after letting go of the battle and giving him some time to get his opinions out there he is now eating most things and throwing very few things.  He is a little porker!! the boy can eat an entire cheeseburger and some fries on the side. These Kolb boys move so much they need lots of fuel I guess!

Owen’s favorite toys these days are the toys Jackson has! But if he has to choose on his own he gravitates towards his bike, putting his sippy cup in the cup holder and tearing around! He also has a couple of stuffed puppies that he loves. Yesterday I saw him set his puppy down and he plopped down on the floor on his tummy so he could see eye to eye with the pup while talking. So cute.  He also enjoys climbing, preferably on chairs and onto tables and beds. (My blood pressure remains in the dangerously high level these days)

oh yes, I would be leaving out a whole chapter of this story if I didn’t mention the 18 month old emotions. It’s a roller coaster…but in some crazy way I love this age. The lows are low and dramatic but he snaps out of it so quickly. He can be flailing one minute and then something catches his eye, he shakes it off and is happy again.  He has learned time out and “making things right” when he gets up from time out and pats Jackson to say sorry.

And Jackson. He continues to be a joy! I must say that 3 was much harder than 2 but as we approach 4 I see a new maturity in Jackson. We have struggles with him daily with attitudes, talking back, etc but it is amazing to be able to reason with him now that he is older and to see his personality really forming. Jackson continues to be energized by being around people. Young and old he befriends and enjoys! It’s neat to see him form friendships and care for people. Jackson has a big interest these days in helping. Whether it be in the garden with me or helping Seth with fix it projects. He wants to be right there, close enough so you can feel his breath Ha, ha.

Motor wise Jackson is loving riding his pedal-less bike, running, climbing trees and being non-stop active.  He came in last week from working in the yard with Seth and had a huge scrape on his chest. He has climbed a tree and decided to let himself slide down. Ouch.   His legs are covered with bruises as evidence of his fun!

Jackson is a hysterical little talker. He is now adding every “actually” “suddenly”, “all of a sudden” and “you know somethin’ nelse?” that he can. He is tuned in to every conversation that occurs and I often hear him telling people on the phone about happenings I never knew he heard about. It is nice that he can now carry on long conversations with his grandparents without needing prompting. If anything though I am usually having to bribe him to get the phone back because he always has something more to say. This is when I should apologize to my parents for being such a talker but really I am getting my payback so I will save my apology for some other realization when Jackson becomes even more like me.  Laugh it up, mom and dad.

Jackson’s favorite toys currently are legos, trains and anything superhero dress up! He loves reading books and loves one on one time. He wakes up each day and asks “who are we seeing today?” and “where are we going?”.  He continues to take a nap most days because he moves non-stop and needs the time for his brain to SLOW Doooown.

The boys are learning daily how to play together and be sweet brothers. There are moments of peaceful playing and times (ummm, lots of moments, maybe hours) when war breaks out and they are both in attack mode.  They are getting sharing awards and kind word awards. Any little attempt to reinforce the sweetness.

And so they grow!!!